Picture Post

Here's what I've got in the gallery today:

Pictures from the beach trip I wrote about the other day. I really like the way the dead pelican pictures came out. Apparently a lot of the coastal wildlife is dying right now due to an algae bloom.

From Beach

I went down to Pt. Loma yesterday for a BBQ with Garrett, Chad, and Cara at Garrett's friend Matt's house, who was totally cool. As we were sitting outside on his patio drinking beer and smoking and talking about parrots of all things, a giant flock of wild parrots flew in and landed in all the trees and power lines...they are some noisy beasts. The pictures didn't come out great because it was very overcast and I was zooming in at like 4x.

From Wild Parrots ...

Took this while we were out walking around on the mountain. No idea what kind of flower/succulent it is but it was really pretty and I like how the picture came out.

Inspired by this great picture I saw on Serious Eats I decided to make a Nicoise Salad this morning.

I left out the tuna, which I think is kind of the point of a Nicoise salad. Being all vegetarian most of the time and trying to eat as little fish as possible, however, it just ended up that way. So I threw some cucumber in there instead. For the beans I used some leftovers I had from making this (to which I added golden hominy) and the potato is a leftover from making these. I used very small russet potatoes when I made them. It was awesome and super filling and easy as hell to make though obviously the one I threw together would not appeal to the purists out there.

I also used a great deal of leftover white beans to make vegetarian refried beans this morning, though I haven't used them in anything yet, they turned out fucking tasty. I'm kind of bewildered how I've made it to almost 26 years having never made refried beans from scratch. The world is full of mysteries.

Food Party Fun Time!

I've been cooking A LOT lately, creating recipes and trying new things and such so I thought I might share them with the internets so that other people can enjoy some of the deliciousness I've been enjoying. I'm a very, very freeform cook and I never measure, I just taste things constantly while I'm cooking and it seems to work for me (though it makes me a HORRIBLE baker). Anyway, that's my way of warning you that all the measurements here are total approximations I made while I was trying to write down the recipe after I'd already finished. You may be way better off just tasting as you go...haha.



Yesterday we went to the beach pretty much all day. Packed a picnic lunch, grabbed a couple of Hi-C six-packs (they come in little twelve ounce plastic bottles with screw on caps) and a bottle of Jose Cuervo Tropina that we mixed in the bottles, and vegged out in the sun. The picnic lunch consisted of some leftover Pad Thai I'd made for dinner the night before (super good cold!), some frozen fruit, and a yumtastic Potato Salad I made that morning. Now you can make it too.





Potato Salad:

5 small russet potatoes, cubed, I leave the skins on but it's really up to your personal preference

3 cloves garlic, thiny sliced into "chips"

vegetable oil (whatever kind you want, I used canola)

1/4 cup roughly chopped black olives



Sauce:

2/3 cup mayo

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp dark soy sauce (I used shitake flavor)

1 1/2 tbsp regular soy sauce

1 tbsp hot sauce (I used a mild garlic flavored "asian style" hot sauce, Sri Racha would work well for more of a kick)

parsley to taste(I used dried, use fresh if you want just chop it up pretty finely)

pepper to taste





Boil water, add cubed potatoes, boil until soft. Standard potato salad beginnings! When they're done, drain them in a colander and let them cool.



While they are cooling add some oil to a large skillet and fry the garlic chips until they start getting crispy and slighty browned. Now add the boiled potatoes and pan-fry until they too start getting crispy and slightly browned. Pretty much like making home fries. Don't let the garlic burn. Throw some salt on there if you'd like.



While the potatoes are frying, mix all the sauce ingredients in a large bowl. Taste...taste good? If not, adjust the flavours until it does. Let it sit there while you finish the potatoes, then add the potatoes and garlic, and the olives as well. Use a large spoon and mix everything up until the potatoes are evenly coated with the sauce. Now stick the bowl in the fridge for an hour or two so everything cools down and the flavours blend. The garlic will also absorb a lot of the sauce and become soft and sweet and tasty. Ta-da! Super delicious potato salad.



This recipe was inspired by this one which I've made as well. I love the flavours he uses and they're very unexpected and an awesome twist for something as stale as potato salad. I think I over roasted the potatoes when I made his version though, but personally I think it tastes better the way I make it now.....ha.